Out from the mountains

The grey skin army marched through the mountain valleys. They marched through mountain passes and narrow roads on the edges of the mountain.

They passed through many towns and villages who all welcomed the warriors of the army.

For almost a month the army marched until they saw a large plateau of fields of grain ahead of them. It was the Jacob kingdom.

Before they were able to come from the mountains they got news from the scouts. An army had intercepted them at Insbeck right under the slopes of the mountain range. It was extremely bad luck to them to be faced with an army right now before they had descended from the mountains.

"How the hell they knew we were coming?" Amala said seeing the banners of the army.

"This is bad. We are in a bad situation. The entrance to the kingdom goes through a small entrance. They can easily hold the entrance preventing us from entering the lands of the kingdom," Doreen explained who was trying to figure out a way to save the situation.

"There is no other way. Let me Pema and Rufus just charge through the army with heavy cavalry. I have seen what a black yaks' charge can do. They can cut through that army easily," Edward said.

"It might, but we risk losing our cavalry. We even are not sure how strong of an army that is. We should send more scouts to see how big the army is," Doreen said.

"I'll go then," said Rufus.

"No, we can not send you. You are our Raja. You are meant to lead us," Amala objected.

"I agree. Edward, you go," said Doreen and ordered Edward.

"Hey. You don't order me...I am going, but not because you told me…..Come on Pema," Edward said to an awkwardly silent Pema.

~ ~

Edward and Pema started to sneak close to the army. They saw about eight thousand soldiers of the kingdom camped right at the edge of the mountain range. They had light cavalry and heavy cavalry with them and seem to be conscripted from many different regions of the kingdom. They also were very well provisioned with plenty of carriages full of grain.

"This doesn't look good. They seem pretty well prepared. When they see us coming down from the mountains, they can block the entrance before we have passed it. We would have to fight our way out and we could lose many warriors. Might even take a few days until we can get past them and more armies might be already on their way by then," Edward thought to himself.

"We could at least assassinate their leader. It seems he is that over there," said Pema and pointed at a person who was commanding soldiers in the camp.

Edward looked where Pema was pointing at. He then smiled. He recognized the person.

"No Pema. We won't do that."

~ ~

Edward and Pema returned to Rufus and the others in the mountains.

"So what did you find out?" Doreen asked.

"Maybe Rufus should come down," Edward explained.

"We already went through this."

"Yeah, but if Rufus comes down we might be able to pass the army without even having to draw our weapons," Edward said with a glimmer in his eyes.

~ ~

Rufus came down and started to ride with a large entourage down from the mountain. They walked towards the enemy camp. They didn't try to hide or anything.

When they were close enough that the enemy could see them the enemy didn't even sound the alarm or call men to the front. Rufus finally saw the banners of the enemies. Many banners from different households waved in wind. One banner though stuck out. It was a brown banner with two wheat straws crossing each other with a red rose on top of it. It was a banner Rufus knew very well and to whom it belonged to.

Edward rode on top of his black yak into the camp where all the soldiers just looked at him. He passed all the soldiers with the soldiers just being in awe of him and his entourage. Some of the grey skins that were with him felt uneasy and didn't understand the situation. They just simply walked through the enemy encampment without saying a word.

A man came from the commander's tent. He had a silver beard and hair with a brown jacket on with some armor on top of it. Rufus then met the commander of the army. Rufus smiled at the commander. It was an old friend of his.

"Been a while count," Rufus said happily

"Well, well, well. It seems you have moved up in the world," count Hunyadi said.